Watch: Maps show how California shifted from severe drought to abundant rain

California has been on a roller coaster ride of extreme weather in recent years.

Six years ago, in January 2020, none of the state was classified as being in a drought. Just 3% — a tiny sliver in Modoc and Siskiyou counties near the Oregon border — was rated as “abnormally dry,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly report put out by the NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and the University of Nebraska.

Then the rain and snow largely shut off for three years. By July 2021, 100% of the state was in a drought, and 88% was in “extreme drought.”

As water restrictions intensified, a miracle winter in early 2023 brought a parade of atmospheric river storms, with the biggest Sierra snowpack in 40 years. Another wet winter followed in 2024. And while it was dry in Southern California last winter, contributing to the conditions that led to the Los Angeles fires, it was wet in Northern California. This winter, rain has landed across the state, filling reservoirs and leaving hillsides and lawns green from San Diego to San Jose to Redding.

This week, the Drought Monitor shows none of California in a drought or abnormally dry conditions — virtually the same situation as the state was in six years ago, with one severe three-year drought in between.

Such “weather whiplash” is exacerbated by climate change, scientists say, because hotter temperatures make droughts more severe while also causing more water from the ocean to evaporate into major storms that can reach California when conditions are right.

How will this winter end? Nobody knows. The rainy season normally ends in April. Accurate weather forecasts can only project out for about 10 days. But for now, California is in good shape in terms of water supply, experts and water managers say, and restrictions are unlikely this summer.

“There is no such thing as a normal water year in California,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources.